Patent · US Active

Switch and network bridge apparatus

US7917681B2 · kind B2 · utility

10Cited by
5References
6Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 16, 2007
Grant dateMar 29, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 29, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F13/4022
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A PCI Express switch which connects a plurality of peripheral devices to an arbitrary one of a plurality of CPUs through an Ethernet is constituted by a plurality of upstream and downstream PCI Express-network bridges, an Ethernet switch, and a system manager. Each of the upstream and downstream PCI Express-network bridges includes a PCI Express adapter which terminates a link of a PCI Express bus, a network adapter which terminates a link to the Ethernet switch, and a control unit which encapsulates a TLP in a frame, the destination of which is a MAC address of a bridge to which the destination is connected to transmit and receive the frame. Because the switch according to the present invention comprising a plurality of upstream PCI Express-network bridges and a plurality of downstream PCI Express-network bridges connected to the plurality of upstream PCI Express network bridges through a network is equivalent to a conventional PCI Express switch, it is needless to change a conventional PCI software.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.